During our recent seminar in Atmore, Alabama we had the opportunity to once again examine the use of cam lock style fittings for speeding up tanker loading times. For folks that choose to load tankers using 2-1/2" or 3" threaded hose, one challenge that occurs is the time lost threading and unthreading the couplings. If it takes 2-minutes to load a tanker with water but almost 2 more minutes to make and break fill connections, then that tanker's loading efficiency is a severely impacted. The goal of tanker loading operations is a minimum 1000 gpm fill line with only a few seconds taken to make and break connections. The cam lock fitting is one-style of non-threaded fitting that really reduces the time spent making and breaking fill line connections.

For mutual aide operations, some departments carry a crate of cam lock fittings on their water supply pumper or tanker with the intent of passing out the fittings at the fill site so that all incoming tankers can be outfitted to load faster.